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Keeping in pace with the township’s tremendous growth
rate, the Library continues to grow within the community. With more than 16,000 residents, approximately 37% are
library members. In
2005, over 42,000 items have been circulated to library members
from a stock of 67,000 books, audio tapes, videos and other
materials.
As a member of the Delaware County Libraries System,
and former 2-year President, Agatha participated in continuing
educational programs for library fundraising and other library
enrichment programs.
Agatha isn’t content to maintain the status quo and
states, “My goal is to increase the size of our book collection
and expand the activities and physical space for our children’s
programs.”
-Madelyn Bush
Friends of the Aston Public Library
Official
documents cite March 3, 1965, the date on which the college
charter was signed, as the founding date of Neumann College,
originally Our Lady of Angels College (OLA).
In 1859, Bishop John Neumann (fourth bishop of Philadelphia
and instrumental in the founding of the
| Sisters
of St.Philadelphia) purchased a building which had served
as the Aston Ridge Seminary for Young Ladies under the
direction of the Episcopalian Church.
Francis of Philadelphia) |
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purchased
a building which had served as the Aston Ridge Seminary for
Young Ladies under the direction of the Episcopalian Church.
This building, southwest of
Philadelphia in what is now known as Aston, became the diocesan
seminary for the education of young men preparing for the
priesthood. In
1871, sixteen years after their founding, the Sisters of St.
Francis of Philadelphia who had outgrown their motherhouse
(congregational headquarters) in Philadelphia purchased the
Philadelphia Preparatory Seminary (the diocesan seminary) and
the surrounding 300 acres of land from the Diocese of
Philadelphia for $12,000.
In 1917, an OLA summer school program was initiated with
two years of college classes approved, and the following year
the name was changed to Our Lady of Angels Higher School.
In 1922, the OLA Higher School became known as Our Lady
of Angels Institute,
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with an
official affiliation with Villanova
College, now University.
Our Lady of Angels Institute registered as a non-profit
corporation in the State of Pennsylvania and became officially
established as an affiliate of the Catholic University of America,
in 1962, with approval to award undergraduate credits.
On November 24, 1964, the college charter was approved
and in September 1965, Our Lady of Angels College opened as a
four-year liberal arts commuter college for women.
From a modest beginning in 1965, the college grew
rapidly, eventually filling the original building designed to
accommodate 1,500 students. True
to the vision of its foundresses, the college continuously
responded to the evolving needs of both traditional and
non-traditional students. In
1980 the college became coeducational and changed its name to
Neumann College in honor of St. John Neumann.
Residence facilities became available with the
dedication of the Living and Learning Center I in the fall of
1997, Living and Learning Center II in January 1999, and Living
and Learning Center III in the fall of 2002.
In addition to the main academic building known as the
Bachmann Building, Neumann College includes a Child Development
Center added in 1973, a Life Center completed in 1985, a Ministry
House purchased in 1998, and the Rocco A. Abessinio Building,
dedicated in 2003.
Neumann College welcomes a student body of more than
2,500, including graduates and undergraduates, traditional and
non-traditional students, women and men, commuters and residents.
-Excerpt derived from
“Catholic Education in the Franciscan Tradition” offered by Neumann
College, Office of Mission and Ministry
Public Information Office
Our newly
formatted government access channel 10 displays historical
township photographs that were graciously supplied to us by Mr.
Paul Dougherty, Founder of the Aston Township Historical Society.
The photographs that appear on our channel have been
identified, to the best of our ability, under the heading of
“Pictorial Histories.”
If anyone has additional historical background or time
frames in which these photographs were taken, please contact Mr.
Dougherty at the Aston Township Historical Society.
The Aston Township Historical Society possesses
hundreds of archives which are on view at the Aston Community
Center each Monday from 11am to 2pm and
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6:30pm to
8:30pm; and Wednesday 11am to 2pm.
Township Times
is available on the 1st of each month at these location
sites:
Aston Community
Center, Aston Township Municipal Building, Eckerd Pharmacy, First
Keystone Bank, Giant Food Store, Iron Workers Bank, Victory
Cleaners, Village Green Mobile Home Community, and Wawa.
Our
township’s website, astontownship.net, is schedule to undergo a
facelift over the next 4 to 8 weeks.
Updates on our progress will appear in next month’s
newsletter and also on our government access channel 10.
Plans for Swiss
Farms to build a drive-through store, located between CN Skate
Palace and the car wash on Concord Road, will be reviewed by the
New Construction committee on April 10, 2006.
Also, on the
horizon is the demolition of the Pizza Hut building located on
Pennell Road which will take place within the next two weeks.
This site is scheduled to be constructed as a “super”
Wawa that will include one full-service and 15 self-service gas
pumps.
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